The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-08-26
ALCOHOL IN ALL LATITuDEs.

A Physical Foe, Curse and Scourge
Wherever Drank Medical ana Scien-
tiffc Testimony.
General Greedy, the most distin-
guished Arctic traveller we have among
us, tells us that in high ATTITUDES the
effect of alcohol shows itself in ''di-
minished power for work." and in
impaired resistance to cold" For
this conclusion he gives facts of his
own observation and those set down
by previous expeditions.
Henry M. Stanley, the most distin-
guished African explorer of the age,
in an address which we published last
year, showed by case after case how
deadly a thing is alcohol in the trop-
zeal country of the Congo
If alcohol is so dangerous in the re-
gions of extreme heat and extreme
cold, it must be that it is wholesome
and invigorating in the temperate
zones, if anywhere. But DR.. Cyrus
Edison, Chief Inspector of Food in the
Sanitary Bureau of the New York
Health Department, and Dr. Willard
Parker, two of the most distinguished
physicians in New York City, III arti-
cles just published in the Epoch, do not
recommend alcoholic drinks, but warn
people against them, at least at this
season of the year. Says DR.. Edison:
1.-THE first effect of alcoholic drinks is to
cause rise in temperature. The blood YES
sells OF the brain are congested, the heart is
stimulated. The secondary effect is to lower
the temperature slightly But you aeUer find
alcohol used in moderation. People aOh0 use IL
inUdrid6Iy use it to erceSS. When taken to ex-
cess, nothing could be used that would produce
sun-stroke or heat-exhaustion quicker Lager
beer and ale open the pores and cause perspi-
ration. These drinks are not as had as'whis
ky, because alcohol is the deleterious ingredi-
emit; and of course substances that contain more
of it are more deleterious.''
The italics are ours. DR.. Edison is
not Temperance crank" else these
italicized sentences might be passed
over as fanatical outburst. The ini-
partial observer knows that they speak
sober truth. DIR. Willard Parker puts
the case against alcohol quiteas strong
ly as DR.. Edison. He says:
81 do not believe in the use of alcohol to
any great extent The first effect is appar-
emily cooling, but then comes the reaction, and
one becomes warmer and thirstier than ever.
Those who indulge freely in &C bolic drinks in
extremely hot weather are tempting Provi-
dence, and are likely to be among the victims
Of sunstroke."
The advice of these eminent physi-
clans to those who want to "keep cool
and well in summer" is to let alcohol
alone. He who drinks freely of it, re-
marks DIR. Parker;8 tempting Prov
idence," and, according to DR.. Edison,
those who drink at all, are apt to drink
to excess.
The truth is becoming more and
more clearly recognized that alcohol
taken as a beverage is always injurious
and never helpful. If taken at all it
should be taken as medicine. Those
who disobey the rules which science
lays down as the result of her disinter-
ested investigation tempt Providence
in sun-stroke and hundred other
physical arrangements. Common
sense tells most men all this, but appe-
tite and selfishness make them reck-
less.
But the physical results, bad as they |
are, unfortunately are not the worst.
The past five weeks of the cheated |
term have been shockingly fruitful of |
crimes of personal violence, all in
spired by the free use of alcohol A
father, maddened with drink, stabs his
daughter to the heart; husband,
fitted for the work in the saloons, kills
his wife; two drunken men attend a |
christening party, and life is taken |
and serious wounds given in the afray |
which follows; in a drunken frenzy 3 |
laborer stabs an old man to death and
severely cuts his wife-but why at |
tempt to summarize the reports which |
come under every body's eye in the
daily newspapers? Every day, every |
hour, the saloon sends out its patrons
to do crimes that make the heart OF So
ciety sick.
If alcohol has its legitimate uses in
the. medical and scientific depart |
ments, let it be confined to those uses.
Medical and scientific testimony give
it no legitimate place among the bev-
erages. Neither in high ATTITUDES nor
low ATTITUDES is it aught but physical
foe; and no ATTITUDES or longitudes